Interpretation of Shakespeare's Sonnet 116

[Let me not to the marriage of true minds]

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle's compass come:
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
   If this be error and upon me proved,
   I never writ, nor no man ever loved. 

          Being a poem about everlasting love it is fitting that Shakespeare's Sonnet 116 should begin with two lines mimicking the words announced by the priest at most wedding ceremonies (Shakespeare 472). The call to all those present, if any reject the two people joining together, to speak and explain why. I feel that what Shakespeare has written is a response to such a summon as well as a declaration or warning toward those who seek true love.
          The writing emphasizes the immortality of love and claims it as not just an emotion, such as anger or happiness, which can fluctuate depending on a person's surroundings, but as a state of permanent being "Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds" (Shakespeare 472). Shakespeare goes on to declare that honest love is so much embedded within a being that even when an inside force, such as unfaithfulness, pushes it and begs it to break, love will not falter or change.
          Love is described as reliable and ever present, to the extent that it is compared to the Northern star, a guide by which one leads his or her life (Shakespeare 472). The strong convictions of this poem leave the reader needing a brave, victorious ending. Shakespeare satisfies the need for closure by prompting that if love is not as he has described then he has never written a word and no man has ever truly loved (Shakespeare 472).

 Works Cited:

       Shakespeare, William (1609). [Let me not to the marriage of true minds]. In B. Alison, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction to Literature 10th Edition (pp. 472). New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.

theme of "The Birth Mark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

          Whether hanging in a tree, floating in water, or sleeping in bed humans are an imperfect species. Seeing people as flawed beings is not a mere perception, rather it is fact, proven by the limitations of mental and physical dexterity. A single person cannot retain all the world's information any more than one man can live forever. Though such natural observations are undeniable they have perplexed some of human history's greatest minds. In Nathanial Hawthorne's "The Birth Mark" Aylmer, an elite scientist, is crazed with the idea of perfection and determined to create it by means of his beloved wife, Georgiana. However, he is met with grave consequence that leads the reader to ask "Should anyone contend with earth's natural order?".
            Hawthorne was an American writer during the 19th century (The American Novel). Though this biographical information does not define all of his works, it does help to widen the perspective of the reader. He was alive during the aftermath of a drastic world-wide shift, concerning just about every aspect of society, known as the Industrial Revolution. The scientist within "The Birth Mark", I believe, is symbolic of those who lead this radical transformation, explaining why the story carefully opens by describing him as belonging to the 18th century (Hawthorne, 218).

 

1. Hawthorne, N. (2011). The Birth-Mark. In A. Booth, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction to Literature Portable Tenth Edition (pp. 218-231). New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.

2. The American Novel - Nathaniel Hawthorne. (2007). Retrieved from PBS: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americannovel/timeline/hawthorne.html

symbolism in "Sonny's Blues" by James Baldwin

               What ignites the feeling of shock in a modern world person? Every morning, on the way to get coffee, America’s privileged walk past pregnant women, begging for change, and don’t so much as offer a smile. During the day we drive by wreckage of road side accidents and never reach to turn down the music. By midnight wild amounts of people are listening to sounds of gun shots and tropic storms as they drift asleep. But, what if that beggar was a friend, that victim a family member? A particular work of fiction titled “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin opens with the narrator receiving news that his younger brother has been arrested during a bad drug bust. Among many other literary techniques, Baldwin uses allegorical language to reinforce the tone and theme of his short story.

                Near the middle of “Sonny’s Blues” the unnamed big brother reminisces on all the family gatherings that took place in his childhood home. The first few sentences concerning his memory are written in a playful tone, "...the old folks were talking after the big Sunday dinner"(Baldwin, 83) that quickly switches to a somber one as he begins to describe his family’s oblivion to the fading of the afternoon sun. Light is commonly used to symbolize good and here stands for the loss of what is good, such as the purity of his younger brother. The adults in the room quiet themselves and retract from conversation all together, trying not to admit to the darkening sky outside. The act of ignoring the circumstance stands for their positions in life. Each knows the hardships of crime or poverty or racial discrimination, but feels that these things cannot be avoided or changed. With animal-like instinct the children, scattered throughout, fear the sudden shift in environment as one boy "...hopes that the hand which strokes his forehead will never stop"(Baldwin, 83). What the young ones sense is a very real fear of being alone, without guidance, tossed into an unpredictable, dangerous world. (Baldwin 83-84)
               With one recollection, the speaker has foreshadowed the story's end and revealed its entire nature.  In a broad sense mankind all spawn from a central point. Every person is born small and defenseless. Though our upbringings can push us in different directions, there is a time when a boy becomes a man, or a girl becomes a woman, and can choose for his or her self what direction to follow. This moment is symbolized by the setting of the sun in "Sonny's Blues". Inevitably people choose different paths and grow to handle circumstances with separately molded outlooks, as the narrator grew to become a teacher and his brother a musician addicted to heroin.

Works Cited:

       1. Baldwin, James (2011). Sonny's Blues. In B. Alison, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction to Literature 10th Edition (pp. 75-101). New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.

diction in "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver

            Raymond Carver begins his short story, ‘Cathedral’, focusing on the initial encounter between a seeing man and a blind man, with blunt and honest language. The former narrates the experience from his point of view (pun intended), making no effort to censor himself. Only identified by 'Bub'(Carver, 36) or 'Husband'(Carver, 35) the focalizer's use of simple wording gives him credibility with his audience.
            By the end of the first paragraph the reader learns that the speaker’s wife has invited her long time friend, who happens to be blind, over to their home (Carver, 32). Immediately a sense of reluctance, from the husband, is introduced "...his being blind bothered me...In the movies, the blind moved slowly and never laughed...not something I looked forward to"(Carver, 32). The choppy pattern of words is comparable to any person's thought process. Though the reader may not agree entirely with the narrator, everyone has been placed in a similar situation. Like being a dinner guest at a new friend's house when they serve tuna casserole. Though the cooking must be endured this does not stop someone from thinking up all sorts of heinous comments. The familiarity of the husband's tone allows the reader to maintain empathy when he makes politically incorrect comments such as his racial discrimination toward the idea of the blind man having a colored wife (Carver, 34).
            The language style, or diction, is what finalizes the growth of the narrator at the end. With everything the audience has learned there would be no reason for the speaker to suddenly soften. So after the two men have been forced to entertain one another for several hours, the blind man asks a favor of the narrator. He asks him if he would describe the look of a cathedral, since the structures were being discussed through a television left on in the room. The seeing man then fails to explain a cathedral using only words, so with the blind man’s hand lightly grasping his own he draws one (Carver, 42-44). As he draws the movement across the page and the attention to detail are recognized as his only means of expressing an idea to the blind man. During this action the narrator has a revelation, he understands, to the extent of which he can, what life is like for a person outside of himself. He learns another man's perspective, and is only able to describe it as “…really something” (Carver, 44).

It's easy to understand why the Narrator had such a hard time describing a Cathedral.

Monet spent nearly 3 years painting the same one.

Works Cited:

        1. Carver, R. (2011). Cathedral. In B. Alison, & K. J. Mays, The Norton Introduction to Literature 10th Edition (pp. 32-44). New York, London: W.W. Norton & Company.

        2. Paintings by Claude Monet from his Rouen Cathedral Series